Of that Day and of that Hour

Of that day of that hour knoweth no man, not even the son, but the Father only. What exactly does this statement of our Lord mean? Many like to use it as an excuse not to study prophetic matters. “Oh, it’s not for us to know!” “Jesus says no man can know!” One recently asked, “Why do Christians say we are living in the End Times, when Jesus says no man can know?” Really?! Is that what Jesus said? Sounds like a gigantic cop-out to me and an excuse not to study God’s Word. Sounds like a Laodicean response when one thinks they have everything and no need of anything else. How does God respond to that? He says we are blind. Laodiceans are stagnant Christians, they have no sense of urgency, no sense of advancement, they are happy right where they are. Peter tells us that those who don’t continually advance and grow are also blind and unable to see afar off (2 Pet 1:10). I want to consider another avenue: Pro 4:18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Psa 119:103-105 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (104) Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. (105) NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. In looking at these scriptures, we see that God’s Word is a lamp and it moves and shines brighter and directs our feet—as long as we stay on the path. So to stay in the light, we have stay on the path and we have to advance with it. That is we have to catch up to the meat in due season, in that due season. That is the extra illumination that we get as time advances. 1 Jonn 1:4-10 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. (5) This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (6) If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: (7) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (8) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (10) If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. So with that thought in mind, if we don’t advance with the character developments, Peter says we are blind and can’t see afar off. If we don’t advance with the meat in due season, or along the path of God’s Word, we are left in darkness as the light passed us by. Being in the dark will hinder us also from seeing afar off. So looking at John, if we don’t stay up with the light, are we sinning? If we resist the meat in due season and say we are not sinning, but keeping true to the Lord. Are we lying to ourselves? Is this no different than the man who buried his talent in a napkin because he was afraid to do anything with what the Lord gave him? In either scenario do we end up in darkness? So, now, getting back to “of that day and that hour”, if we refuse to study End Times events or prophecies, are we sinning? The Old Testament is jammed packed with End Time prophecies, especially on what to watch for with Natural Israel. And if we believe that we, Christians might have to give a message to Israel from God, don’t we have to know the order of events coming, and what God might want us to say? Where are we going to find that? Studying types shows us what is going on with Christendom, the World, and how it will affect us as Christians. If we don’t study these or put them all in the past so as to lose their urgency, will we be left in the dark? Jesus gave two whole chapters describing the signs of his “Parousia”, and not the beginning of it, but all the stages of it (Epiphania and Apokalupsis). So if we don’t make diligent study of Matthew 24 and 25 will we end up being of the Foolish Virgins, or those whose flight is in the winter or sabbath—that is after the harvest is over? So while we cannot pinpoint a day or time of day, he is not saying, don’t look into it, and don’t try to figure it out as many like to intimate he is. We have seen people who predict an exact date. I am not talking a year, because there is no prohibition on that, but even so, it is the order of the events that is most important and not any date we can figure out. We have to get the events, then order them to the best of our ability. Then and only then can we know what God expects of us. Then and only then will we know when it is time to open our mouths. Jesus knew when it was and wasn’t time for him to die. I think at this end of the age, we will know too, if we are of the Little Flock. He knew because he knew the order of the events. Look at the Elijah and Elisha type. There is an order in the last stops, Elijah is silent. Elisha is just following, and he really isn’t as informed. He knows this is the end for Elijah, but he doesn’t know the order of the events, so he expects it at each stop. It isn’t until after Jordan, that Elijah makes it known that now he is going to be taken. The Lord dealt with Elijah and brought him each step of the way. Elisha was willing to go also, but more or less to just tag along. When we look at the Wise and Foolish Virgins, their lamps were going out---if they didn’t go to the market to get more oil, they would have been left totally in the dark, and hence blind and not able to see afar off. When we look at the Gideon picture, the three hundred looked forward in anticipation of the battle when they drank in the water of Truth, but the rest just drank with no direction and no anticipation. In Song of Solomon, when the Love knocked at the door, the one sister was just too comfortable to move herself to investigate who was at the door. I am sensing a theme. We need to be very careful when we come down on others for studying prophecy, because we may be the ones left in the dark. God’s Word is unfolding before us. There are things that we just could not possibly have known a few years ago, we had to wait for God’s light to shine on it, and we also have to be looking so that we recognize it. In the past we have interpreted things based on what limited knowledge we had at the time. Years have passed and we should be able to say, “hmmm, you know that interpretation no longer really fits---it was good with the information that we had, but now things have changed, and our understanding of other prophecies have brought me to the conclusion that this really isn’t the explanation for this passage or type, what am I missing? Personally I think in the type of Elijah, we are still at Horeb. God keeps asking Elijah, “Why are you still here?” First He shows him what to expect in the Wind, Earthquake and fire, but shows him that He (God) has nothing to do with all this, but is in the still small voice. So what does Elijah do, he just stands there and wraps his face. So, God asks him again, What are you doing here? God gave Elijah some light (those visions), and Elijah did not advance along the path. Then God has to give him a directive to get him moving. So, I ask, are we still standing at Horeb? Or have to gotten the directive and begun to move forward? If we have: “Do you know where you’re going to?” “Where are you going to? Do you know?”

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